Addon Spotlight: Automate your life with some automatic addons

Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same.

Face it -- we're lazy. Lazy, lazy, lazy. We've been living in a world of awesome addons, quality of life improvements, and a streamlined interface for so long that we might have forgotten how awful things really are in the outside world of user interfaces. While you read this edition of Addon Spotlight, remember how bad things were back in the day, with lack of options and the rigid UI schemes. After you're done with that, come back here for addons that will do a bunch of stuff for you, no questions asked.

This week's Addon Spotlight is all about addons with Auto in the title (or at least in concept), because I love addons that take care of menial tasks for me. Auto-addons also have some cool functionality that exists outside of the menial task range, but we'll get to that. Some of the auto stuff is pretty cool and might even do something (automatically, of course) that you never thought you needed before.

Multishot

Multishot is one of those automatic addons that scratched an itch I never knew I had. It's simplicity is in its function: Multishot automatically takes a screenshot when something cool happens. Now, we might have differing opinions on what constitutes "cool," but I'm sure that at one point or another you've been sad that you missed a screenshot of something cool happening. Multishot will automatically take a screenshot when you level up, kill a boss, your guild levels up, you hit a new reputation level with a faction, and more. That's it! I love it.

The most important automatic screenshot event for me is completing an achievement. Guild achievements also trigger the addon, but personal achievements are one of those events that I would love to have a growing collection of images about so that I could put them into an awesome coffee table book and make my friends jealous of my virtual exploits.

This is the time my friends and I finally forged Ragnaros' hammer, Sulfuras.

How many times have you started a raid with your guild, punched Shannox in the face so hard that his loot pops out, someone clicks on the corpse -- and boom, tons of crap to pass on because your raid leader forgot to set his threshold or master looter. Been there, done that. Wouldn't it be nice to never worry about that again? It sure would.

Auto Loot Master is a simple automatic addon that sets your loot method to a preset type and threshold. When you form a raid or get promoted to raid leader, AutoLootMaster will swap around the settings for you. The default setting is master looter, epic item level threshold, and the raid leader is set as the loot master. The addon remembers your settings from the previous raid and will make changes accordingly to how you had them set up in the past. Seriously, it's that easy. You can disable aspects of the addon with slash commands, but it's easier to just pop into the interface window and do what you can from there.

This particular addon came to me in the best possible way -- an addon creator let me know about it. Otherwise, I would have had no idea that something like this existed. Instead, I would continue to let my raid leaders have all of the onus and responsibility in doing this themselves and setting loot correctly. Damn. So thank you, Blunta, for the recommendation of your excellent and care-free addon.

I've already done an Addon Spotlight on AutoTabard, but I wanted to remind everyone about this fantastic addon, in case you haven't already heard of it. AutoTabard automatically equips a reputation tabard based on which reputation you are currently trying to gain influence with whenever you enter a dungeon that grants reputation points. You can select what faction the addon will follow, to slap that faction's tabard on you the moment you enter the instance.

When you reach exalted with a faction, the addon will prompt you to choose a different faction, so as to not waste any time or reputation points. It is invaluable for those of us who forget to put on out reputation tabards during the dungeon leveling process.

Automaton is dying. Well, not really. Sort of. I hope not. This little bugger has been in my UI folder for years at this point and still works for all of the features I need it to. Currently, I use Automaton to auto-repair my equipment at a vendor (it has an option for using guild repair funds first, if available), releasing my corpse in battlegrounds automatically when I die, and selling all of my grey items when I hit a vendor. Sure, there are other addons out there that can automate many of these functions, but until Automaton is lying dead at my feet, a shriveled and brittle corpse of its former self, I will continue to soldier on.

One day, it won't be my best friend. It hasn't been updated in a good, long while. So, my question to you, dear readers, is what other addons for automating all of the things Automaton does in such a no-frills and simple way are out there? I am intensely curious and would love the community to provide their own input. Poor Automaton. You are still my best friend.

Addon mailbag tiiiiiime.

Hi Mat,

Something that's been troubling me lately:
Everyone wants to track stuff. Dots, Hots, buff durations, cooldowns. While most implement this as a "bunch of bars" (I use Need To Know) this can quickly take up a lot a screen real estate.

Now a couple of weeks ago I saw a screenshot of some guy's UI (I think it was a Warlock, PROBABLY on an Reader's UI Addon Spotlight) and he had a single bar where the icons of abilities and dots were continually moving left. Then once they reached the end they fell off. No animation involved though. Imagine the hilarity if the icons would actually FALL out of the bar. Screams and everything ("I regret nothiiiiiiing!!").

Anyway!

The addon was largely passed over while I, at the time (as well as today), thought it's awesome. Unfortunately, I was unable to record or find the addon's name. Thus, inevitable as the dawn, comes my Golden Question: What addon was that? And can you feature it some time?

Wintrawr

Thanks for the email, Wintrawr. The addon that you describe is most likely ForteXorcist or Sexycooldown, both fantastic timer and tracking addons that do exactly what you want. Icons of the abilities, debuffs, and buffs travel down a horizontal or vertical line that get progressively faster and larger as the ability, buff, or debuff is wearing off. The final leap off of the bar is a crescendo of sight and sound, with the icon leaping into the blackness of space, its opacity dimming in the nothingness of existence, growing to unimaginable scale before disappearing forever. Well, until you hit the button again.Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. If you're new to mods, Addons 101 will walk you through the basics; see what other players are doing at Reader UI of the Week. If there's a mod you think Addon Spotlight should take a look at, email mat@wowinsider.com.